Meta Shifts Focus to Monetizable AI Models, Plans Avocado Release in 2026

According to Odaily, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is deeply involved in daily research and development, steering the company's strategy towards monetizable artificial intelligence models after investing billions of dollars in building one of the most expensive teams in tech history. Insiders reveal that a new model, codenamed 'Avocado,' is expected to be released in the spring of 2026, potentially as a closed-source product controlled and sold by Meta. This move marks a significant departure from Meta's long-standing advocacy for open-source initiatives. Zuckerberg is dedicating substantial time to a core team known as TBD Lab, which is integrating third-party models such as Google's Gemma, OpenAI's gpt-oss, and Alibaba's Qwen during the training of Avocado. Concurrently, Meta is significantly reallocating resources, reducing investments in the metaverse and virtual reality, and redirecting funds towards hardware like AI glasses. The company plans to invest $600 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States over the next three years.